Page 87 of Gracefully Yours

“Charlotte.” I muttered.

“Hm?” She looked up at me, my thumb perched precariously between her teeth, and finally let go with a pop. I swiped my thumb over her bottom lip before bending down to take her lips with mine. Sweeping my tongue in her mouth, I groaned at the lingering taste of the strawberry.

“You always taste so fucking sweet,” I groaned.

She blushed, pulling away from me and moving back to the tray, digging into her pancakes without looking at me again.

But fuck, I couldn’t take my eyes off of her.

What was I going to do to make this our everyday reality? I needed her by my side every night. Needed her to not pull away.

So I was going to do everything in my power to keep things like they were now.

It would have to be enough.

CHAPTER21

Charlotte

Looking over at the hallway, I hesitated. After this weekend, should I go back to my room? I hated that I even had to, but this was still fake, wasn’t it? We’d agreed on casual sex, but that didn’t mean what we did this weekend came with any feelings. Sure, he exhausted my body until I fell asleep each night, but…

Was it okay for me to admit to myself that I liked sharing his bed?

As if noticing my dismay, Daniel stopped, pausing in his tracks, and came back over to where I stood at the top of the stairs.

“You’re sleeping in here from now on.” Daniel wrapped his hand around my wrist, tugging me along—making my decision for me. “With me.”

I was okay with that. This marriage might have been all because of our pact, but Ilikednot sleeping alone. And I wanted a repeat of this weekend. I didn’t want that to stop. Even if it wasn’t real.

“Okay,” I agreed.

“No more guest room?”

“No more guest room.”

He dropped his forehead against mine. “Good.”

I simply hummed in response, dropping my bags on the floor. Everything else was in the guest room—my room—but I had no desire to unpack right now. Instead, I flopped on his bed, burying my nose in the pillow to inhale his scent, before watching him flitter around the room, putting his stuff away.

“I can’t believe tomorrow is Christmas,” I said, stretching out my arms. “It feels like it was just summer.”

“Mmm,” he said, absentmindedly agreeing with me as he shoved his dirty clothes into the hamper.

Where had this year gone? He might not have been thinking about it, but I was. Angelina and Benjamin’s wedding, my birthday, Noelle and Matthew’s engagement… Our wedding. It had all gone by so fast.

It would be the new year soon, and once school was back in session, I’d be back at the dance studio teaching classes five days a week. Even if I missed the kids, I would miss all this time I got to spend just the two of us even more. And Daniel’s birthday was right around the corner. Sure, I’d planned stuff for him in the past, but this year, we’d be celebrating as husband and wife. So that was something I needed time to work out in my head.

“You know, I didn’t think we were going to make it this far with no one suspecting something,” I muttered, still sprawled out on his dark gray comforter. I’d been in his room before, but I couldn’t help but notice it was pretty devoid of a lot of personal touches. Something I supposed I’d fix after I moved all of my stuff in here.

“Guess we’re pretty good at this relationship stuff, huh?” Daniel laughed.

“Yeah. Guess our friends wanted us to be together too much to question it.” They hadn’t even batted an eye when we’d said we were getting married so quickly. Maybe that should have scared me, but it… didn’t.

“Makes you wonder why we didn’t do this before,” I said with a small laugh.

Why hadn’t we? Why hadn’t he made a move in college? Maybe I hadn’t seen him like that until this past year, but…

Really, it was too bad it was fake. Even though I felt like I was forgetting itwasfake half the time. Which I couldn’t do. If I let myself forget that this wasn’t real, that I was just a backup, the last resort… if this fell apart, if he fell in love with someone else? I didn’t know who I would be without him anymore. Two months of us faking it, and it already felt like something different from when we started.

---